How Ukraine Organized Mossad-Inspired Russian Mi-8 Helicopter Hijacking

A clever, painstakingly plotted operation which took six months to unfold, showing the depth of Ukrainian penetration of Russia, as well as the levels of dissatisfaction within the Russian military.

And given what just happened to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the pilot was smart to get his family out of Russia first. JL 

Isabel Van Brugen reports in Newsweek:

Ukraine lured a Russian pilot commanding an assault Mi-8 helicopter to land in Ukraine. The operation to lure the pilot took six months. The pilot's family was "taken out of  Russia in advance." The operation was similar to Operation Diamond, undertaken by Israel's Mossad in the 1960s. It involved an Iraqi defector flying a MiG-21 landing at an air base in Israel. The Mi-8 AMTSh is an armored assault helicopter used to carry troops and cargo. It carries ground-attack weapons, can operate at night and in all weather conditions. "The Mi-8 remains in Ukraine along with fighter plane parts it was supposed to deliver to the Russians."

Ukraine said it lured a Russian pilot commanding an assault transport Mi-8 helicopter to land in Ukrainian territory and that the aircraft has been confiscated.

As reports circulated this week that a Russian Mi-8 AMTSh helicopter had landed at the Poltava military air base in Kharkiv, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR) told the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the pilot tried to "run away" once they realized where they had landed.

The Mi-8 AMTSh is an armored assault version of the Mi-8AMT helicopter, and is primarily used to carry troops and cargo. It carries a number of ground-attack weapons, and can operate at night and in all weather conditions, according to Military Today.

Budanov said the helicopter is now in Kyiv, calling the operation the first of its kind to succeed in Ukraine's history.

There have been a number of conflicting reports on the capture of the helicopter and Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian ministries of defense via email for comment and further details.

 

Artem Shevchenko, a Ukrainian TV journalist, said on Facebook that the intelligence operation was very similar to Operation Diamond, undertaken by the national intelligence agency of Israel, Mossad, in the 1960s. It involved an Iraqi defector flying a MiG-21 and landing at an air base in Israel.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's GUR military intelligence, spoke to Reuters about the operation, saying: "This was a GUR operation. The aircraft moved according to the plan."

Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda cited unnamed intelligence sources as saying the operation to lure the pilot to land in Ukraine took over six months.

According to the publication, "as a result of a special operation" two crew members were killed, and the pilot and his family are in Ukraine. It notes that the pilot's family was "taken out of the Russian Federation in advance."

"The Mi-8 remained in Ukraine along with parts for fighter planes that it was supposed to deliver to the Russians," the report said.

The Dutch open-source outlet Oryx said that since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, Russia has lost at least 103 helicopters, of which 89 were destroyed, 12 were damaged, and two were captured.

 

Meanwhile, figures published by Ukraine's General Staff on Friday showed the total number of Russian helicopters destroyed since the war began stands at 316. Independent sources give numbers that are more conservative than Kyiv's, and Russia doesn't publish figures on its military losses.

Ukraine's update on the Mi-8 comes three months into its counteroffensive to recapture territory seized by Russia throughout the conflict.

Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told Radio Liberty this week that the counteroffensive so far has been difficult, "but every day we are moving forward towards the liberation of all our territories."